Are you smarter than a Roman?

A short anecdote before the real fun begins: I lost my flash drive at school (a.k.a. I left it in a computer by accident and it was nowhere to be found when I returned two hours later). It was the first flash drive I ever had; this does not imply sentimental value, but rather no value at all. Someone must have taken it (by accident, clearly) and now they have a copy of my Spanish Civilization essay as well as a folder of random pictures from my brothers' Trail Cam that lives in the woods behind our house and snaps photos of all moving things (like squirrels and leaves blowing in the wind). Joke's on them!

We went to Sevilla last week! Lots of great stuff there...just outside of the city is "Itálica", an excavated area of Roman ruins. See if you can guess what these are pictures of:

1

2

3

4

5

6

ANSWERS:
1 - An original stone in the road that contains a Roman children's game
2 - Sewage system that ran beneath the city (this concept was apparently lost at some point in the Middle Ages)
3 - Hearth in one of the Roman houses
4 - Statue of the goddess Diana  (goddess of the hunt and wild animals; also of fertility and childbirth)
5 - Gladiator's gift to the gods; footprints signify his desire to both enter into the arena and walk out alive
6 - Center of Gladiator arena where animals were kept for fights


If you scored 1/6, you know more than I knew before I went to Itálica.
If you scored between 2 and 5, you should be a historian.
If you scored 6/6, you are a probably a Roman (or at least as smart as one). Congratulations!

Sevilla itself is a very interesting city. The Plaza de Toros there is a very famous bullfighting center, and the Sevilla Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. It is also the burial site (the real one) of Christopher Columbus. There is a fascinating Arabic influence in the 3,000-year-old city as well; the massive tower of the cathedral  is a remnant of the Moorish mosque.

One of the astounding views from the top of the Giralda tower; the center of the photo is the Plaza de Toros

Center of the Plaza de España (a few scenes in the Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones were filmed here!)

Well, it's officially been two months since I arrived in Spain. I'm learning "un montón" of new things, and my Spanish has definitely improved. However, it's nowhere near perfect. Here's my analogy: speaking English is like playing the piano for me - I've done it for almost my entire life and I'm comfortable with it. Speaking Spanish is like learning to play the piano with my feet - I theoretically know how it works and how it's supposed to sound, but when I put it into practice on the spot it's a lot harder than I thought. Challenges are good, though. They're a fantastic cure for the ailment of complacency.

¡Mis mejores deseos!